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{{Short description|City in Karnataka, India}}
{{About|a city in India|the 14th to 17th century empire|Vijayanagara Empire|the district in Karnataka|Vijayanagara district|the city in [[Coastal Andhra]]|Vizianagaram|other uses|Vijaynagar (disambiguation)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2018}}
{{Use Indian English|date=July 2018}}
{{Infobox settlement
| name                            = Vijayanagara
| official_name                   = 
| nickname                        = 
| settlement_type                 = City
| image_skyline                   = View of the Virupaksha temple complex from Hemakuta hill.JPG
| image_caption                   = Virupaksha Temple, Vijayanagara, Karnataka
| pushpin_map                     = India Karnataka#India
| pushpin_label_position          = right
| pushpin_map_alt                 = 
| pushpin_map_caption             = Location in Karnataka, India
| coordinates                     = {{coord|15|20|00|N|76|27|36|E|display=inline,title}}
| subdivision_type                = [[Country]]
| subdivision_name                = {{flag|India}}
| subdivision_type1               = [[States and territories of India|State]]
| subdivision_name1               = [[Karnataka]]
| subdivision_type2               = [[List of districts of India|District]]
| subdivision_name2               = [[Vijayanagara district|Vijayanagara]]
| established_title               = 
| established_date                = {{start date and age|df=y|p=y|1520}}
| founder                         = [[Harihara I|Harihara]] and [[Bukka Raya I|Bukka]]
| named_for                       = City of Victory

| footnotes                       = 
}}
{{Infobox UNESCO World Heritage Site
|WHS         = Groups of Monuments at Hampi
|Image       = Hampi virupaksha temple.jpg
|Location    = [[Hampi (town)|Hampi (City)]], [[Vijayanagara district]], [[Karnataka]], [[India]]<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/karnataka/ballari-set-to-lose-hampi-and-more/article33136164.ece|title = Ballari set to lose Hampi and more|newspaper = The Hindu|date = 19 November 2020|last1 = Buradikatti|first1 = Kumar}}</ref>
|Criteria    = Cultural: i, iii, iv
|Includes    = [[Virupaksha Temple, Hampi|Virupaksha Temple]]
|ID          = 241
|Year        = 1986
|Danger      = 1999–2006
|Area        = 4,187.24 ha
|Buffer_zone = 19,453.62 ha 
|Coordinates = {{coord|15|20|04|N|76|27|44|E}}
|locmapin    = India Karnataka#India
|map_caption = Location of Hampi
|website     = {{URL|http://asi.nic.in/asi_monu_whs_hampi.asp|Archaeological Survey of India – Hampi}}
}}

'''Vijayanagara''' ({{Translation|'City of Victory'}}) is a city located in [[Vijayanagara district]] of [[Karnataka]] state in [[India]].<ref name="vijayabrit">[https://www.britannica.com/place/Vijayanagar Vijayanagara], Encyclopaedia Britannica</ref> Vijayanagara was the capital city of the historic [[Vijayanagara Empire]].<ref name=vijayabrit/> Located on the banks of the [[Tungabhadra River]], it spread over a large area and included sites in the [[Vijayanagara district]], the [[Ballari district]], and others around these districts. A part of Vijayanagara ruins known as the [[Group of Monuments at Hampi]] has been designated as a [[UNESCO]] [[World Heritage Site]].<ref name="Verghese2002p1" />

Hampi, an ancient human settlement mentioned in Hindu texts, houses pre-Vijayanagara temples and monuments.{{sfn|Fritz|Michell|2016|pp=12-33, 66-69}} In the early 14th century, the dominant [[Kakatiya Dynasty|Kakatiyas]], [[Yadavas of Devagiri|Seuna Yadavas]], [[Hoysala Empire|Hoysalas]], and the  short-lived [[Kampili kingdom]], who inhabited the [[Deccan]] region, were invaded and plundered by armies of Khalji and later [[Tughlaq dynasty|Tughlaq]] dynasties of the [[Delhi Sultanate]].<ref name="Knipe2015p38">{{cite book|author=David M. Knipe|title=Vedic Voices: Intimate Narratives of a Living Andhra Tradition|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=8oUSBwAAQBAJ&pg=PT38|year=2015|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-026673-8|pages=38–39}}</ref>

Vijayanagara was founded from these ruins by the Sangama brothers, who were working as soldiers in the Kampili Kingdom under Kampalidevaraya.<ref name="vijayabrit" /><ref name="Knipe2015p38" /><ref name="Stein1989p18">{{cite book|author=Burton Stein|title=The New Cambridge History of India: Vijayanagara |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OpxeaYQbGDMC&pg=PA18 |year=1989|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-26693-2|pages=18–19}}</ref> The city grew rapidly. The Vijayanagara-centred empire functioned as a barrier to the Muslim sultanates in the north, leading to the reconstruction of Hindu life and scholarship, multi-religious activity, rapid infrastructure improvements, and economic activity.<ref name="vijayabrit" /><ref name="dieter127">{{cite journal | last1=Verghese | first1=Anila | last2=Eigner | first2=Dieter | title=A Monastic Complex in Vithalapura, Hampi Vijayanagara | journal=South Asian Studies | volume=14 | issue=1 | year=1998 | doi=10.1080/02666030.1998.9628555 | pages=127–140}}</ref><ref name="fritz44">{{cite journal | last=Fritz | first=John M. | title=Vijayanagara: Authority and Meaning of a South Indian Imperial Capital | journal=American Anthropologist | volume=88 | issue=1 | year=1986 | doi=10.1525/aa.1986.88.1.02a00030 | pages=44–55| s2cid=143926888 }}</ref> Along with Hinduism, Vijayanagara accepted communities of other faiths such as [[Jainism]] and [[Islam]], leading to multi-religious monuments and mutual influences.{{sfn|Fritz|Michell|2016|pp=77-81, 97}}<ref>Catherine B Asher (1985), Islamic Influence and the Architecture of Vijayanagara, in A. L. Dallapiccola et al (Eds), Vijayanagara: City and Empire— New Currents of Research, Weisbaden: Steiner Verlag, pp. 188-95</ref> Chronicles left by Persian and European travellers state Vijayanagara to be a prosperous and wealthy city.

By 1500 CE, Hampi-Vijayanagara was the world's second largest medieval era city (after [[Beijing]]) and probably India's richest at that time, attracting traders from Persia and Portugal.<ref name="Howard2011p77">{{cite book|author=Michael C. Howard|title=Transnationalism and Society: An Introduction|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Qy4YtuIHsQcC&pg=PA77| year=2011|publisher =McFarland|isbn= 978-0-7864-8625-0| pages=77–78}}</ref><ref name="Gier2014p11">{{cite book|author=Nicholas F. Gier|title=The Origins of Religious Violence: An Asian Perspective|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0LBhBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA11|year=2014|publisher=Lexington|isbn=978-0-7391-9223-8|pages=11–14}}, Quote:
 "In its peak of glory, ca. 1500, with a population of about 500,000 and sixty square miles in area, Vijayanagara was the second largest city in the world behind Beijing."</ref>

Wars between nearby Muslim sultanates and Hindu Vijayanagara continued, however, through the 16th century. In 1565, the Vijayanagara leader [[Aliya Rama Raya]] was captured and killed,<ref name="kulke191">{{cite book|author1=Hermann Kulke|author2=Dietmar Rothermund|title=A History of India|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=RoW9GuFJ9GIC |year=2004| publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-0-415-32920-0|page=191}}, Quote: "When battle was joined in January 1565, it seemed to be turning in favor of Vijayanagara - suddenly, however, two Muslim generals of Vijayanagara changes sides. Rama Raya was taken prisoner and immediately beheaded."</ref>{{sfn|Eaton|2006|pp=98, Quote: "Husain (...) ordered him beheaded on the spot, and his head stuffed with straw (for display)."}} and the city fell to a coalition of [[Deccan sultanates]]. The conquered capital city of Vijayanagara was looted and destroyed for 6 months, after which it remained in ruins.<ref name="Verghese2002p1">{{harvnb|Anila Verghese|2002|pp=1–18}}</ref>{{sfn|Fritz | Michell| 2016|pp=11–23}}<ref name="Lycett 2013 433–470">{{cite journal | last1=Lycett | first1=Mark T. | last2=Morrison | first2=Kathleen D. | title=The Fall of Vijayanagara Reconsidered: Political Destruction and Historical Construction in South Indian History 1 | journal= Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient| volume=56 | issue=3 | year=2013 | doi=10.1163/15685209-12341314 | pages=433–470}}</ref>

==Location and history==
[[File:Hampi Vijayanagara in early 16th century, South India.jpg|thumb|left|Hampi Vijayanagara in early 16th century. The sacred centre featured major Hindu temples and attached markets; the urban core included the royal centre; suburban satellites were spread from what is now Gangawati to Hosapete.<ref>{{cite book|first=Anila |last=Verghese|title=Archaeology, Art and Religion: New Perspectives on Vijayanagara|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GZzpAAAAMAAJ |year=2000|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-564890-4|pages=vi–viii}}</ref><ref name=morrison423>KD Morrison and CM Sinopoli (2006), ''Vijayanagara: Archaeological Explorations'', J. Fritz et al (eds.), VPR Monograph, Manohar, pages 423–434</ref>]]
Vijayanagara is located in the modern era Indian state of [[Karnataka]], along the banks of the [[Tungabhadra River]]. The city rapidly grew from being an ancient pilgrimage centre in the 13th century, to the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire in the early 14th century, and becoming a metropolis of approximately {{convert|650|km2}} by the early 16th century.<ref name=morrison423/> By 1500 CE, It became the world's second largest city, after Beijing.<ref name="Howard2011p77"/><ref name="Gier2014p11"/> Memoirs by foreigners estimate the population was about 500,000, but others find this estimate to be either generous or too conservative.<ref name="Howard2011p77"/><ref name="Gier2014p11"/><ref name=morrison423/>

The architecture of the capital, Vijayanagara, is purposely aligned with the natural features of the city from the time of Rama.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dallapiccola |first=Anna |title=Paradigms in Indian Architecture |publisher=Routledge |year=1998 |isbn=9781315026923 |edition=1st |pages=141 |language=English |chapter=Gods, Patrons and Images: Stone Sculpture at Vijayanagara}}</ref> Vijayanagara was founded around the religious Hindu temple complex, Pampa Tirtha, and [[Kishkindha]] that already existed at [[Hampi]]. The name of the city centre, Hampi, is derived from Pampa, another name of goddess [[Parvati]] in Hindu theology. According to ''[[Sthala purana|Sthala Purana]]'', Parvati (Pampa) pursued her ascetic lifestyle to win over and bring ascetic Shiva back into householder life on the banks of Tungabhadra river, on Hemakuta hill, now a part of Hampi.{{sfn|Fritz|Michell|2016|pp=14-15}} Shiva is also called Pampapati ({{lit|husband of Pampa}}),{{sfn|Fritz|Michell|2016|pp=14-15}} and the river came to be known as Pampa river.<ref name="Verghese2002p6">{{harvnb|Anila Verghese|2002|pp=6–7, 40, 92}}</ref> The Sanskrit word Pampa morphed into the Kannada word Hampa, and the place Parvati pursued what she wanted came to be known as Hampe or Hampi.{{sfn|Fritz|Michell|2016|pp=14-15}}<ref name="Verghese2002p6"/><ref name=ASI>{{cite book|first=D. |last=Devakunjari|title=World Heritage Series: Hampi|publisher=Eicher Goodearth Ltd, for [[Archaeological Survey of India]]|location=Delhi|isbn=978-81-87780-42-7|page=8|year=2007}}</ref> Its Hindu significance also comes from the [[Kishkindha]] chapters of the Hindu epic ''[[Ramayana]]'', where [[Rama]] and [[Lakshmana]] meet [[Hanuman]], [[Sugriva]], and the monkey army in their search for kidnapped [[Sita]]. The Hampi area has many close resemblances to the place described in the epic. Traditionally understood to be the place described in the Ramayana, the region attracts many pilgrims.<ref name="KaminskyLong2016p75">{{cite book|first1=Arnold P. |last1=Kaminsky|first2=Roger D. |last2=Long|title=Nationalism and Imperialism in South and Southeast Asia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aGIPDQAAQBAJ&pg=PT75|year=2016|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-1-351-99742-3|pages=75–76}}</ref>

Prior to its founding, Hindus and kings of various kingdoms visited Hampi. Hoysala Empire's [[Hindu king]]s built and supported the Hampi pilgrimage centre before the 14th century.<ref name="KaminskyLong2016p75"/><ref name=devraj112>{{cite book|first1=D. V. |last1=Devaraj |first2=C. S. |last2=Patil|title=Vijayanagara, Progress of Research|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=icdPjpdrkWwC|year=1987|publisher=Directorate of Archaeology & Museums|pages=112–113}}</ref><ref name="Stein1989p31">{{cite book|author=Burton Stein|title=The New Cambridge History of India: Vijayanagara|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OpxeaYQbGDMC&pg=PA31|year=1989|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-26693-2|pages=31–32}}</ref> At the start of the 14th century, the armies of [[Delhi Sultanate]], first those of Alauddin Khalji and later of Muhammad bin Tughlaq invaded and pillaged South India. The Hoysala Empire and temple cities such as those in Halebidu, Belur and Somanathapura were plundered in early 14th century.<ref>{{cite book|author=Abraham Eraly|title=The Age of Wrath: A History of the Delhi Sultanate|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vyEoAwAAQBAJ&pg=PT155|year=2015|publisher=Penguin Books|isbn=978-93-5118-658-8|pages=155–157}}</ref><ref name="Dalal2002p195">{{cite book|author=Roshen Dalal|title=The Puffin History of India for Children, 3000 BC – AD 1947|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U2gRUVIF2joC |year=2002|publisher=Penguin Books|isbn=978-0-14-333544-3|page=195}}</ref><ref name="Knipe2015p38"/> From the ruins of this collapse and destruction emerged Vijayanagara Empire and its new capital Vijayanagara.<ref name="Knipe2015p38"/><ref name="Stein1989p18"/><ref>{{cite book|author=Cynthia Talbot|title=Precolonial India in Practice: Society, Region, and Identity in Medieval Andhra |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pfAKljlCJq0C&pg=PA281 |year=2001|publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-803123-9|pages=281–282}}</ref> The city was founded by [[Harihara I]] and [[Bukka]], the Sangama brothers.<ref name="sen2">{{Cite book |last=Sen |first=Sailendra |title=A Textbook of Medieval Indian History |publisher=Primus Books |year=2013 |isbn=978-9-38060-734-4 |pages=103–106}}</ref>

[[File:Ugranarasimha statue at Hampi dtv.JPG|thumb|left|Statue of [[Narasimha|Ugranarasimha]] at [[Hampi]]]]
The city was already a sacred site of pilgrimage for devotees of [[Shiva]] in the 10th century. It became the most powerful urban centre in the Deccan between 14th to 16th centuries and one of the ten largest cities of the world. The Renaissance Portuguese and Persian traders reported it as a marvellous achievement.<ref name=Springer>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t_MsBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA200|title=Landscapes and Landforms of India|first=Vishwas S. |last=Kale|publisher=Springer Science+Business Media|year=2014|page=200|isbn=9789401780292}}</ref>

The city was a powerful urban centre in South India from 14th to 16th century and one of the ten largest cities of the world. It stood as a bastion of Hindu values dedicated to fighting back the encroachments of the Muslim sultans from the north, who soon came to be operating from [[Golkonda]].<ref name=Springer/> The [[Sangama dynasty]] was involved in repeated conflicts with the [[Bahamani Sultanate]]. The Bahamanis had later disintegrated into [[Deccan sultanates|five sultanates]] which formed a Deccan alliance. [[Krishnadevaraya]] after the [[Battle of Raichur]] allowed one sultan to stay in power rather than let it split into smaller kingdoms. However, later Vijayanagara kings had to contend with multiple Sultanates to their north.<ref name="William J. Jackson 2002 209">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QymrCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA209|title=Vijayanagara Voices: Exploring South Indian History and Hindu Literature|first=William J. |last=Jackson|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2002|pages=209|isbn=9781317001935}}</ref> The Vijayanagara kingdom befriended and allowed the [[Portuguese Empire|Portuguese]] to [[Portuguese conquest of Goa|take control of Goa]] and western territories of the Bahamani Sultanate. The sultanates united against the Vijayanagara Empire.<ref name="George Childs Kohn 2013 526">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qTDfAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA526|title=Dictionary of Wars|first=George Childs |last=Kohn|publisher=Routledge|year=2013|pages=526|isbn=9781135954949}}</ref>

An ongoing war between Muslim Sultanates and the Hindu Vijayanagara Empire led to the [[Battle of Talikota]] in 1565 CE, fought about {{convert|175|km}} north. It resulted in the capture and beheading of Vijayanagara leader [[Aliya Rama Raya]], mass confusion within the Vijayanagara forces and a shock defeat.<ref name=kulke191/>{{sfn|Eaton|2006|pp=96–101}}<ref name="William J. Jackson 2002 209"/>  The Sultanate army then reached Vijayanagara, looted, destroyed and burnt it down to ruins over a period of several months. This is evidenced by the quantities of charcoal, the heat-cracked basements and burnt architectural pieces found by archaeologists in Vijayanagara region. The urban Vijayanagara was abandoned and remained in ruins ever since.{{sfn|Fritz|Michell|2016|p=23}}<ref name="Lycett 2013 433–470"/><ref>{{cite journal | last=Verghese | first=Anila | title=Deities, cults and kings at Vijayanagara | journal=World Archaeology | volume=36 | issue=3 | year=2004 | doi=10.1080/1468936042000282726812a | pages=416–431| s2cid=162319660 }}</ref> Vijayanagara never recovered from the ruins.<ref name="George Childs Kohn 2013 526"/><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XfPgtl6PgwoC&pg=PA29|title=Archaeologies of Memory|first1=Ruth M. |last1=Van Dyke |first2=Susan E. |last2=Alcock |publisher=John Wiley & Sons|year=2008|pages=29|isbn=9781405143301}}</ref>

The Italian [[Cesare Federici]] writing two years after the empire's defeat states that "The Citie of Bezeneger (Vijayanagara) is not altogether destroyed, yet the houses stand still, but empty, and there is dwelling in them nothing, as is reported, but Tygres and other wild beasts."<ref name=Arizona/>

Archaeological evidence suggests that while the urban settlement was abandoned, a number of rural settlement in the metropolitan region were not fully emptied. Some population remained in the region (though there is no good assessment of how much), and a number of settlements founded in the Vijayanagara period remain occupied up to the present.<ref name=Arizona/>

The ruins of the city were brought to light in the early 19th century by [[Orientalism|orientalist]] [[Colin Mackenzie|Colonel Colin Mackenzie]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Vijayanagara Research Project at the British Library |url=https://blogs.bl.uk/asian-and-african/2019/04/vijayanagara-research-project-at-the-british-library.html#:~:text=Colin%20MacKenzie%E2%80%99s%20survey |access-date=2025-05-06 |website=blogs.bl.uk |language=en}}</ref>

==Description==
{{Main|Vijayanagara Empire}}
[[File:A map published in 1820, Hampi, Vijayanagara ruins.jpg|thumb|The earliest known map of Vijayanagara, based on drawings of 1785, published in 1820]]
{{Karnataka History}}
{{Infobox
| title = Vijayanagara ruins in the 19th century
| image =
{{image array|perrow=2|width=140|height=100
| image1 = Ruins of Bala Krishna Temple Vijayanagara Hampi 1868 Edmund Lyon photo.jpg| caption1 = Krishna temple in 1868
| image2 = Ruins of Vijianuggur, the Volkonda Ramachandra temple in Hampi, Vijayanagara, 1868 photo.jpg| caption2 = Rama temple in 1868
| image3 = Interior of Vitthala temple mandapa in Hampi, Vijayanagara 1880 photo.jpg| caption3 =  Vitthala temple in 1880
| image4 = Hampi King's Balance Vitthala temple street entrance near river 1856 photo.jpg| caption4 = King's balance in 1858
}}
}}
The name translates as "City of Victory", from ''vijaya'' (victory) and ''nagara'' (city). As the prosperous capital of the largest and most powerful kingdom of its time in South India, Vijayanagara attracted people from all around the world.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Pratap |first=Vijaya |date=2017-02-18 |title=Revisiting history |url=https://www.newindianexpress.com/hyderabad/2017/Feb/17/revisiting-history-1571785.html |access-date=2025-06-06 |website=The New Indian Express |language=en}}</ref>
{{blockquote|After Timur's sack of Delhi, North India remained weak and divided. South India was better off, and the largest and most powerful of the southern kingdoms was Vijayanagar. This state and city attracted many of the Hindu refugees from the north. From contemporary accounts, it appears that the city was rich and very beautiful—The city is such that "eye has not seen nor ear heard of any place resembling it upon earth", says Abdur-Razzak from Central Asia. There were arcades and magnificent galleries for the bazaars, and rising above them all was the palace of the king surrounded by "many rivulets and streams flowing through channels of cut stone, polished and even." The whole city was full of gardens, and because of them, as an Italian visitor in 1420, [[Niccolò de' Conti|Nicolo Conti]] writes, the circumference of the city was sixty miles. A later visitor was [[Domingo Paes|Paes]], a Portuguese who came in 1522 after having visited the Italian cities of the Renaissance. The city of Vijayanagar, he says, is as "large as Rome and very beautiful to the sight"; it is full of charm and wonder with its innumerable lakes and waterways and fruit gardens. It is "the best-provided city in the world" and "everything abounds." The chambers of the palace were a mass of ivory, with roses and lotuses carved in ivory at the top--"it is so rich and beautiful that you would hardly find anywhere, another such.|[[Jawaharlal Nehru]], ''The Discovery of India''<ref>{{cite book|last=Nehru|first=Jawaharlal|author-link=Jawaharlal Nehru|title=The Discovery of India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZO03R1m8QH4C|year=2004|publisher=Penguin Books India|isbn=978-0-14-303103-1}}, page 257</ref>}}

The ruined city is a [[World Heritage Site]], known in that context as the Ruins of Hampi. In recent years there have been concerns regarding damage to the site at Hampi from heavy vehicular traffic and the construction of road bridges in the vicinity. Hampi was listed as a "threatened" World Heritage Site by the UNESCO but was later removed from the list after appropriate corrective measures were taken.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-karnataka/hampi-no-more-on-list-of-endangered-heritage-sites/article3084132.ece|title = Hampi no more on list of endangered heritage sites|newspaper = The Hindu|date = 2 August 2006}}</ref>

Traveller memoirs before 1565 CE record it as a large and developed metropolitan area.<ref name=Arizona/> The Italian [[Cesare Federici|Cesari Federici]] writing two years<ref name=Arizona/> after the Vijayanagara Empire's military defeat in 1565 describes the city after its ruin, "is not altogether destroyed, yet the houses stand still, but emptie [sic], and there is dwelling in them nothing, as is reported, but Tygres and other wild beasts."<ref name=Arizona>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YkYdxK29RHkC&pg=PA37|title=Polities and Power: Archaeological Perspectives on the Landscapes of Early States|first1=Steven E. |last1=Falconer |first2=Charles L. |last2=Redman |publisher=University of Arizona Press|year=2009|pages=37|isbn=9780816526031}}</ref>

Recent commentaries state:

{{blockquote|The massive walls, which can still be traced, enclosed an area of more than sixty square miles, much of which was occupied by fields and gardens watered by canals from the river. The population cannot be estimated with precision, but it was certainly very large when judged by the standards of the fifteenth century. The great majority of the houses were naturally small and undistinguished, but among them were scattered palaces, temples, public buildings, wide streets of shops shaded by trees, busy markets, and all the equipment of a great and wealthy city. The principal buildings were constructed in the regular Hindu style, covered with ornamental carving, and the fragments which have survived suffice to give point to the enthusiastic admiration of the men who saw the city in the days of its magnificence.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Moreland |first1=W. H. |first2=Atul Chandra |last2=Chatterjee |title=A Short History of India |location=New York |publisher=David McKay |year=1962 |orig-year=first edition 1936 |edition=4th |page=177}}</ref>}}

[[Sanjay Subrahmanyam]] states that Vijayanagara was arguably one of the only three centres during this period with a population of over 100,000 in South India and that from the contemporary accounts and what remains of its expanse, the city proper and the suburbs had a population of 500,000 to 600,000. He notes that [[Domingo Paes]] had estimated its size at 100,000 houses.<ref name=Sanjay>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jgSMPKVh7f8C&pg=PA23|title=The Political Economy of Commerce: Southern India 1500–1650|first=Sanjay |last=Subrahmanyam|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2002|pages=22, 23|isbn=9780521892261}}</ref>

==Area==
Vijayanagara includes:
*[[Hampi]], now [[UNESCO World Heritage Site]].
*[[Anegundi]], on the north side of the [[Tungabhadra River]], in [[Koppal district]].
*[[Kamalapura, Vijayanagara|Kamalapura]], a small temple town to the southeast of the Royal Centre, also houses an archaeological museum.
*[[Hospet]], a city and railhead, to the southwest.
*Monuments spread Vijayanagara and nearby districts.

==See also==
{{Portal|India}}
* [[Vijayanagara architecture]]
* [[List of colossal sculpture in situ]]
* [[List of largest monoliths in the world]]
* [[Sayana]]
* [[Allasani Peddana]]
* [[Medieval City of Vijayanagara]]
* [[Hampi]] 
* [[Hampi (town)]]

==Notes==
{{refbegin}}
* Vijayanagara kaalada Sainyavyavasthe matthu Yuddhanithi, Dr.S.Y.Somashekhar, 2009, Sanchike Prakashana, Kannada University, Hampi, Vidyaranya, 583 276, Bellary Dist.
* Karnatakada Birudaavaligalu, Dr.S.Y.Somashekhar, 2014, Prasaranga, Kannada University, Hampi, Vidyaranya, 583 276, Bellary Dist.
* Sosale Srinivasachar & T.S. Satyan, ''Hampi: The fabled capital of the Vijayanagara Empire'', (Directorate of Archaeology and Museums), Govt. of Karnataka, 1995
* J.M. Fritz ''et al.'', ''New Light on Hampi: Recent Research at Vijayanagara'', (Performing Arts Mumbai, 2001) {{ISBN|81-85026-53-X}}
* A.H. Longhurst, ''Hampi Ruins Described and Illustrated'', (Laurier Books Ltd., 1998) {{ISBN|81-206-0159-9}}
* ''The Ruins of Hampi:Travel Guide'' {{ISBN|81-7525-766-0}}
* Raghu Rai & Usha Rai, ''Vijayanagara Empire: Ruins to Resurrection'', New Delhi, 2014. {{ISBN|978-93-83098-24-8}}
{{refend}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

===Bibliography===
* {{cite book |last= Eaton|first=Richard M. |title= A social history of the Deccan, 1300–1761: eight Indian lives|year= 2006|publisher= Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge |isbn= 978-0-521-71627-7 }}
* {{cite book|editor1=J.M. Fritz| editor2 = George Michell| title= New Light on Hampi: Recent Research at Vijayanagara| isbn= 978-81-85026-53-4| publisher = Marg| year=2001}}
* {{cite book|last1= Fritz|first1= John M|last2 =Michell| first2 =George|title=Hampi Vijayanagara|publisher = Jaico|isbn= 978-81-8495-602-3| year=2016}}
* {{cite book|author=George Michell|title=Architecture and Art of Southern India: Vijayanagara and the successor states|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W6bphUvvPf4C|year=1995|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-44110-0}}
* {{cite book|author=Burton Stein|title=The New Cambridge History of India: Vijayanagara|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OpxeaYQbGDMC |year=1989|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-26693-2}}
* {{cite book|author=Anila Verghese|title=Hampi|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TDduAAAAMAAJ|year=2002|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-565433-2}}
* {{cite book|author=Anila Verghese|title=Archaeology, Art and Religion: New Perspectives on Vijayanagara|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GZzpAAAAMAAJ|year=2000|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-564890-4}}

==External links==
{{commons category}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20140227041506/http://www.penn.museum/sites/VRP/index.shtml Vijayanagara Research Project]
* [http://indiatourism.ws/hampi/krishna_temple_complex/ Krishna temple complex] and [http://indiatourism.ws/hampi/vittala_temple_complex/ Vittala temple complex]

{{Karnataka topics}}

[[Category:Vijayanagara Empire]]
[[Category:Former populated places in India]]
[[Category:Former capital cities in India]]
[[Category:Hampi]]
[[Category:Archaeological sites in Karnataka]]
[[Category:World Heritage Sites in India]]
[[Category:Ruins in India]]
[[Category:Destroyed populated places]]
[[Category:Cities and towns in Vijayanagara district]]
[[Category:Medieval Indian cities]]